Latest news with #LACounty
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Yahoo
Erik Menendez seeking release from prison for serious medical condition, attorney says
Erik Menendez is seeking to be released from prison as he receives treatment for a serious medical condition ahead of his parole hearing next month, his attorney said this week. Attorney Mark Geragos declined to share the specifics of the 54-year-old's condition in an interview with TMZ. But sources familiar with Erik's treatment told The Times he's suffering from severe kidney stones and complications arising from the condition, and needs extensive medical treatment. Geragos did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment from The Times on Tuesday. Geragos told TMZ he will ask Gov. Gavin Newsom to release Erik immediately ahead of the brothers' appearance before the parole board. "It's a serious condition and he needs, I think, to be out so he can focus on the hearing," Geragos told TMZ, adding that he thinks releasing him early would be "the appropriate thing to do." Erik Menendez and his brother, Lyle, have spent more than 35 years in prison for killing their parents in 1989 in a case that over the past year has gained renewed public attention following the release of Netflix's "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" and various documentaries. The brothers were given a chance at freedom in May when an L.A. County judge granted a request to resentence them. Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic's decision to sentence the brothers to 50 years to life came after hours of testimony from family members who said the brothers had spent enough time behind bars for the brutal killings of their parents. The brothers had been serving life terms without the possibility of parole. If the parole board recommends freeing the brothers in August, the decision will be sent to Newsom for consideration. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Latino neighborhoods overwhelmingly targeted in immigration raids, rights group says
The neighborhoods targeted by federal agents for immigration raids were overwhelmingly Latino, according to data from a prominent immigrant rights group. A heat map produced by the the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights documents 471 immigration enforcement actions reported to its Los Angeles Rapid Response Network between June 6 and July 20 in L.A. County. "That's only those reports we were able to verify through our responders," said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, CHIRLA's director of communications. "It doesn't mean those are the only number of incidents in that area." Cabrera suspects CHIRLA caught one-third of the enforcement activity that took place across the county. During the same period of time, CHIRLA claims to have received 1,677 calls of enforcement activities across the region that it could not confirm, with 1,500 of these reports mentioning armed agents being present, and 389 reports mentioning witnessing random arrests of community members. Here are the areas with the highest number of enforcement actions reported to CHIRLA: San Fernando Valley (Panorama City): 22 actions Pico Rivera: 18 actions Silver Lake-Echo Park: 15 actions Bell Gardens: 14 actions Hollywood: 9 actions Vernon-South Los Angeles: 8 actions Pico-Union-Downtown Los Angeles: 8 actions Little Tokyo-Downtown Los Angeles: 7 actions Glassell Park: 7 actions South Gate: 7 actions Of the five zip codes with the highest immigration enforcement numbers, a combined 76% of the population was Latino, CHIRLA's analysis shows. Twenty-two enforcement actions were reported from Panorama City, the highest of every zip code analyzed. Its population is 42% Latino, and 38.2% immigrants. "The blatant racial profiling by the Trump Administration is clearly visible in this map," said Angelica Salas, executive director for CHIRLA, in a press release. "Areas where People of Color live and work, which also include major Latino hubs, were racially profiled and targeted. This military federal immigration enforcement operation was a surgical attack meant to provoke panic and confusion, and unleash terror in our neighborhoods." ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment from The Times. The agency has pushed back against racial profiling claims in the past. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement that any such allegations are "disgusting and categorically FALSE." She also said, "These type of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement." The CHIRLA analysis is not a full accounting of the raids conducted in Los Angeles. DHS has not released the number of enforcement actions or the locations. It has reported that from the time the operations began in June to early July, ICE and Border Patrol arrested 2,792 illegal aliens in the L.A. area. "The map shows they didn't go to wealthy, white neighborhoods," said Cabrera. "They went where they could randomly pick up people of color." This report comes during widespread concern about racial profiling by the Trump administration in its immigration policies. Reporting from The Times shows L.A. residents, especially darker-skinned Latinos, have expressed fear about being targets for ICE agents, and even American citizens have been swept up in raids. CHIRLA was one of the groups who sued DHS on July 2, claiming its arrests and detentions in L.A. and the surrounding counties were unlawful and racially targeted. "The preponderance of individuals stopped and arrested in the raids have not been targeted in any meaningful sense of the word at all, except on the basis of their skin color and occupation," wrote the plaintiffs in their lawsuit. U.S District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong ruled in their favor, writing that DHS and ICE may not use apparent race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or a person's occupation to justify an arrest or detention. The Trump administration is attempting to have these restrictions lifted. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
CTV News
18-07-2025
- CTV News
An explosion at a Los Angeles law enforcement training facility kills 3
L.A. County Sheriff's deputies stand outside the Biscailuz Center Academy Training facility, where three deputies were killed during a training accident, on Friday, July 18, 2025. (Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) A deadly explosion that shook a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles early Friday was being investigated as a possible training accident, officials said. Three members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department died in the explosion reported around 7:30 a.m. at the Biscailuz Training Facility, department spokesperson Nicole Nishida said. It was not immediately known what caused the explosion or what the department members were doing at the time. Sheriff's homicide detectives were on the scene. An early line of investigation was looking at a possible training accident, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the matter who was not authorized to discuss it and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. In a post on X, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the explosion 'appears to be a horrific incident' and federal agents are at the scene to learn more. 'Please pray for the families of the sheriff's deputies killed,' Bondi wrote. I just spoke to @USAttyEssayli about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles. Our federal agents are at the scene and we are working to learn more. Please pray for the families of the sheriff's… — Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) July 18, 2025 Arson investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Los Angeles Fire Department and members of the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad were assisting at the training facility, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a post on X. California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said he's been briefed and that the Governor's Office of Emergency Services is in contact with the Sheriff's Department and closely monitoring the situation. He later posted on X that members of the State Fire Marshal were helping with the investigation at the request of the ATF. Aerial footage from KABC-TV shows the explosion happened in a parking lot filled with sheriff patrol cars and box trucks. Three covered bodies could be seen near a truck with a ramp attached to a side door. A sheriff's patrol cruiser parked nearby had its rearview mirror shattered by the blast. By Etienne Laurent And Eric Tucker.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Homelessness in Los Angeles drops for 2nd straight year
For the second consecutive year, homelessness decreased in the Los Angeles area, the 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count found. 'Deep collaboration, focused emergency response, and innovative programming caused homelessness to decline by 4.0% in LA County and 3.4% in the City of LA,' the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said Monday. The count, conducted Feb. 18-20, found more than 72,000 homeless people in the county and almost 44,000 in the city, down from 2023's highs of 75,518 and 46,260, respectively. 'It's official: The annual homeless count in Los Angeles shows a consecutive year decrease for the first time. Ever,' L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said on social media. 'On day one, I declared a state of emergency to reject the old way of doing things. Now, we've turned the page. We will not stop working urgently to save lives.' This year's reductions of 4% and 3.4% for county and city, respectively, are significantly larger than last year's reductions of 0.3% and 2.2%. 'When I first came to LAHSA, I said we'd reduce unsheltered homelessness in three years,' said LAHSA CEO Va Lecia Adams Kellum. 'We did it in one and cemented it in two. By bringing innovative solutions, system change, and working arm in arm with our partners over the last two years, LAHSA has helped move people inside with the urgency this humanitarian crisis demands.' Kellum, who is transitioning out of her LAHSA role, added that 'we can also see clearly that our work isn't done' in an apparent message to local leaders, her colleagues and eventual successor. 'It's crucial we keep moving forward, together, to sustain our reductions in unsheltered homelessness,' she said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Washington Post
14-07-2025
- Washington Post
Los Angeles man dies in jail while awaiting trial for killing and dismemberment of wife, her parents
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles man accused of killing and dismembering his wife , her mother and her stepfather has died in jail while awaiting trial, authorities said Monday. Samuel Bond Haskell, 37, was found dead Saturday in his cell in a downtown Los Angeles jail and died by suicide, a statement from the LA County district attorney said.
